Telecommunications switching platforms commonly interface to telecommunications spans and switch control and information channels on those spans, forming cross connections between different input and output information channels. The telecommunications switching platforms typically interface to the telecommunications spans using E1 or T1 protocol interfaces.
In the event that an interface to a telecommunication span fails, or an interface is added or removed from the system while the system is operating, prior-art systems have failed to detect such failure or insertion or extraction. Thus, such systems are unable to be easily configured or reconfigured.
In prior-art telecommunications switching platforms a number of processors or controllers may be implemented to perform the numerous functions of the platforms. In such cases, each of the processors typically has an operating code associated with it. Prior-art systems have typically required that the operating code be downloaded into volatile memory from a high-level operating system, which might have its own associated nonvolatile semiconductor memory or hard disk drive.